Oxfam Work Report: Nepal (1) In 2005, Oxfam Hong Kong started working with a local organisation Social Worker s Group (SWOG) to implement community-based development projects in Udayapur district, Nepal. Over the last eight years, the programme has expanded to seven village development committees (VDC), covering 63 villages and one ward in the district. Adopting an integrated approach, we have assisted 22,483 people in 3,998 households to improve their livelihoods and reduce their vulnerability through sustainable development, disaster reduction and preparedness, health and sanitation, women and community empowerment as well as policy advocacy. As hundreds of families have achieved significant changes in their lives, Oxfam Hong Kong is gradually phasing out from three VDCs so that we can allocate resources to extend our work in two new VDCs to help more poor people get on the path of self-reliance. In January 2013, our staff members visited the project and interacted with five communities in Udayapur district. This leaflet highlights our work in the area. Fast Facts Population Human development index Population living below HK$10 per day Multi-dimensional poverty index: (Percentage of population in multidimensional poverty) Sanitation facility access Natural disasters Gender inequality Index Main source of livelihood Nepal Udayapur District 29,890,686 293,656 Ranking 157 out of 186 countries 24.8% 49% 44.2% Over 70% of the rural population lack access to sanitation facilities Floods, landslides, forest fires Ranking 102 out of 186 countries Agriculture Most households lack access to sanitation facilities Flash floods, droughts, landslides, soil erosion Sources: The United Nations Human Development Report 2013, Oxfam reports Oxfam Project areas Oxfam Projects in Udayapur Nepal Gorkha Arghakhanchi Kapilvastu Nawalparasi Kathmandu Sarlahi Rautahat Udayapur Dhanusha Saptari Food and income Women s empowerment Health care and sanitation Water and irrigation systems Disaster reduction and preparedness Capacity building Advocacy for policy implementation and influence www.oxfam.org.hk 3120 5000 Macau toll free hotline: 0800 809
More Food and Income Oxfam has been supporting poor communities in Udayapur by organising target communities into different self help groups and farmers groups. Members receive financial and technical services and are also encouraged to start their own savings. Oxfam provides set up funds and group members contribute savings to the funds each month. They can then borrow loans from the group savings to engage in various income generation activities. Training and capacity building opportunities are also provided. Farmers set up service centers, through which seeds, fertilisers, agricultural equipment and information are being distributed. With the combined efforts of Oxfam, SWOG and the communities, food shortage has been reduced and income has increased. Income generation activities No. of households taking part in these activities (as of 2012) Agriculture (vegetable farming, ginger / turmeric farming) 719 Animal husbandry (goat, pig, poultry) 1,317 Non-agricultural business (bamboo products, processing of spice) 388 Fruit saplings plantation 7,808 Irrigation (plastic pond, treadle pump, drip irrigation) 206 Total 10,438 photos: Christian Chan, Oxfam Shanti Dewi (right) lives in Jogidaha VDC with her husband and seven children. She joined the farmers group and received financial support from her group for vegetable cultivation. Oxfam organised training on vegetable cultivation and also supported the installation of a treadle pump to improve irrigation in 2008. That has given Shanti a big boost. Before, we could only grow potato and mustard due to lack of water. Now we can diversify our crops, such as egg plants, onion, cauliflowers and radish. Every growing season, I can make 30,457 rupees (about HK$2,716) by selling vegetables. We now have enough vegetables to eat and we are all getting healthier. Oxfam assists poor communities to increase their productivity by improving irrigation systems Lakshmi Pariyar, 25, is a young mother of three in Hadiya VDC. As a Dalit (a group of people traditionally regarded as untouchable in the caste system), she faces many challenges in her daily life: discrimination, chronic food insecurity and more. Last year, she received 15 chickens as well as training on chicken farming through a women s group supported by Oxfam. She said, I am expecting to make about 95 rupees (about HK$8.5) a day from selling eggs. Life will make a turn for the better.
Empowering Women Gender discrimination and inequality is prevalent in rural Nepal. Women lack the channels to voice out their needs and opinions and are deprived of education, clean drinking water, sanitation, medical care, employment and access to and control over resources. In all, poverty is more common among women. Our development work in Udayapur emphasises participation and empowerment of women. We create opportunities for women to engage in livelihood activities in order to increase their income. We support the set-up of women s self-help groups to enhance their organisation and leadership skills; by participating in the community s decision making process, their social status are enhanced. Through advocacy, we also help fight gender discrimination and promote gender equality. In our efforts in empowering women, Oxfam and SWOG play the role of a facilitator, helping them realise their aspirations and find solutions to the various problems they face at home and in the community. Women s participation in different groups in all seven programme areas Groups Number of groups Female Male Self-help Group 82 1,353 486 Farmers Group 59 680 806 Youth Group 25 196 279 Disaster Management Committee 6 40 63 Total 172 2,269 1,634 Members of a women s self-help group meet to discuss the implementation and management of the community s projects. Oxfam s development work in Udayapur emphasises participation and empowerment of women Chijamaya s husband Danbahadur is happy to see the changes in her life Chijamaya Bika, 40, joined the women s self-help group in her VDC in 2005, a decision that has made a big difference in her life. I got married at 12. Early marriage is common among women in rural Nepal. Every day, I get up at three or four o clock in the morning to take care of the family, the livestock and also to make a living, and can only go to bed at around ten o clock at night. With limited access to income or basic service, we face a great deal of stress. Since I joined the group, however, my life has gradually improved. I take loans to buy food for my family. We also buy pigs and goats to generate income. Before our life was nothing but hard work. Now with the women s group which meets once a month, the community has become closer and we look out for each other s needs. More importantly, we can now make our voices heard. Not only am I involved in the family s decision making, I also take part in the community s group meetings and have become more confident to express my opinions. I often join other members of the group to approach government departments directly to ask for more development resources. Chijamaya s husband, Danbahadur Bika, has witnessed the change in his wife. She was illiterate before, but now she can sign her name. She is more aware of the importance of education, and encourages me to send our children to school even if it means more work for her.
Better Health and Sanitation The condition of water, sanitation and hygiene in Udayapur is poor. Most households do not have hygienic latrines so conditions in their villages can be unsanitary. A woman said, Before, we had to run to the bush when we needed to urinate or defecate. We did it only in the early morning and after evening, which was very inconvenient. Oxfam provided financial support to different self-help groups, assisting 1,085 households to build latrines to ensure privacy and dignity of women as well as manage sanitation. We also promote awareness of health and sanitation through education and dissemination of pamphlets and posters containing health information. Moreover, we support the building of water facilities outside the villagers home and provide fuel-efficient cooking stoves to households to reduce women s workload and protect people s health. Dhruva Kala Rai, 38, lives in Hadiya VDC with her son. Her husband left home for work in Kathmandu many years ago and has never returned. Dhruva has to take care of her son and the family, work in the farm and tender the livestock. Everything is on the shoulders of this single mother. Dhruva joined the women s self-help group in her VDC in 2005. She took loans to engage in livelihood activities and also received support from Oxfam to build a toilet and a fuel-efficient stove in her kitchen. The toilet is right outside my house. Now I can live a more convenient and decent life. Members of the women s group always educate other villagers the importance of hygiene and sanitation. More villagers have cultivated the habit of using the toilet now, and those who have not built one expressed to us that they also want to have their own! As the new fuel-efficient stove needs less firewood, I don t need to go to the forest to chop firewood so often. More importantly, the stove creates less smoke, so I am healthier. Standing in front of her toilet, this woman said that the overall hygiene in the village has improved, thanks to the efforts of the women s group in promoting health awareness. Oxfam s water project has helped to reduce women s workload and improve people s hygiene practices
Disaster Risk Reduction and Preparedness Udayapur district is ravaged by floods and droughts. Oxfam Hong Kong assists villagers to cope with and get prepared for disasters. We design our programmes based on the geographic characteristics of different villages to enhance resilience of the community: In low-lying villages affected by floods, our work has focused on disaster risk reduction, livelihoods protection, vegetable cultivation and market linkages In mountainous villages where water is scarce, much of our work has focused on livelihoods and water conservation The impacts of climate change and global warming have been affecting the agricultural activities of poor communities in Nepal. Oxfam incorporates climate change adaption into agriculture and livestock production of our project areas. We also implement a series of disaster preparedness measures in disaster-prone areas to reduce their vulnerability. These measures include: Setting up disaster management committees Setting up a disaster relief fund, providing financial support for livelihood restoration to flood and disaster affected communities Helping communities mobilise government resources to the disaster relief fund Building relief shelters and providing facilities Setting up grains banks In a low-lying village affected by floods in Jogidaha VDC, Oxfam supports villagers to set up a disaster management committee. Binda Adhikari, a committee member, said, Flash flooding is a serious problem in the area. It happens in the monsoon season of June to September every year and comes so suddenly, killing people, destroying embankment, houses, irrigation systems and crops. Despite the flood threats, support from the district government was far from adequate. Luckily, with the support from Oxfam and its partner SWOG, we formed a disaster management committee and together we approached the Soil Construction Department asking for their support to build stone walls along the river banks to prevent floodwaters from destroying our houses and fields. Finally, we received 100,785 rupees (about HK$9,055) from the department. With additional financial support from Oxfam and another 25,187 rupees (about HK2,263) contributed by the villagers, the walls were erected last year. A few floods happened after that, but the walls kept us safe. Oxfam also supports villagers to plant bamboo trees to hold water, thus reducing the risk of floods and soil erosion. Binda Adhikari stands next to the stone walls which help channel floodwaters in the monsoon season Oxfam supports villagers in Hadiya and Jogidaha to set up disaster management committees and provides capacity building training on disaster risk reduction for the members Printed on 100% recycled paper using soy oil-based ink
Advocacy and Campaign Oxfam adopts a one programme approach in our community development work which is linked to advocacy for pro-poor policies. In Udayapur, our advocacy work has been focusing on agriculture and livelihood. We support small scale farmers to set up their own self-help groups, and motivate them to engage in discussions and negotiations with the local government on behalf of the villagers. The goal is to advocate for policies that benefit farmers livelihoods and agricultural development. Our work includes: Organising farmers voices and ensuring that their opinions are adopted by the government s Agriculture Development Strategy; demanding for government resources to develop the farming sector including funds, technical support and climate change mitigation plans Building capacity for women to fight gender-based discrimination; strengthening women s role in agricultural activities and protecting the rights of women farmers Mobilising different disaster management committees to advocate the government at VDC level for resources to cope with disasters Strengthening networks with other non-governmental organisations (NGOs), farmers groups, the media and local government departments On International Women s Day this year, with the support of Oxfam and SWOG, about 300 small-scale farmers, most of them women, organised a rally to demand for more pro-poor agricultural policies and equal rights especially for women farmers.
Achieving Sustainable Development The ultimate goal of Oxfam s development programme in Udayapur is to ensure that the communities are capable of coping with future disasters and that their development will be sustainable. To achieve that, we endeavour to strengthen their resilience and reducing their vulnerability. Oxfam believes that sustainable development is only possible when the communities are strong and the younger generation is ready to take on the responsibility for future development. Setting up Cooperatives After eight years of work, many self-help groups have become mature and can manage development activities by themselves. We support the groups to federate into VDC level cooperatives which are a more powerful institution having legal entity and capable of working for social and economic development of its members. Group members of the cooperatives can have better access to loans and savings to further develop their livelihoods and sustain the impact of the programme. Besides financial services, these cooperatives, on behalf of their members, also engage with and influence government agencies to mobilise resources and services for their members. The cooperatives play a crucial role in ensuring community access to financial resources, strengthening solidarity and mobilising community members to negotiate with government departments for development resources and services. Engaging Young People in Community Development Oxfam organises young people into various youth groups and provides trainings on development concepts, leadership, agriculture and livelihood and waste management. These youth are engaged in experimental farming and sanitation management; they also help parents send their children to schools. These young people are the change makers in their communities and will take up community development in the future Oxfam supports members of a youth group to set up a demonstration plot for tomato cultivation. Members receive seeds, fertilisers and technical support. Kamala Rai, a young farmer, said confidently, There are 24 members in our group. We started growing tomatoes on the demonstration plot last year. In the beginning, some of our parents were not supportive of our project because they have more confidence in the traditional way of tomato cultivation. But we showed them a new variety of tomato which is bigger and more profitable, and we taught them how to grow tomatoes in a more systematic way. We expect to earn 9,065 rupees (about HK$815) from the first harvest. We will invest the income to further develop our business. For example, we plan to sell the tomatoes to buyers from outside the village who offer better prices. Now many families have started to learn from us. Kamala Rai (first left) and members of the youth group work in the tomato farm every day Kamala Rai continued, Apart from new farming techniques, Oxfam has also taught us the importance of education in helping to break the vicious cycle of intergenerational poverty. Therefore, we always encourage parents to send their children to school. In fact, we have successfully convinced 40 dropped-outs to go back to school!
From Strength to Strength Oxfam has been working in Udayapur for eight years. We have assisted 22,483 people in 3,998 households to improve their livelihoods and reduce their vulnerability through our integrated programme. The sustainability of the programme is a good example of community-driven and community-led development initiatives in remote rural villages in Nepal. In the year ahead, we will continue to work with local communities in the seven VDCs for more income and food, and for community empowerment by helping them set up their own cooperatives at VDC level. We are also extending our programme to two new VDCs, assisting another 5,200 poor and vulnerable people to work for a better future. A Summary of Oxfam s work in Udayapur $ Provision of financial resources and technical services to enhance sustainable livelihoods and access to food Women and community empowerment through setting up self-help groups, youth groups and farmers groups Water, sanitation and hygiene promotion (toilet and fuel-efficient cooking stove) Setting up disaster management committees Supporting Farmers Service Centres to ensure community access to agriculture inputs and information Sustaining the impacts through setting up cooperatives at VDC level Name of VDC Chaudandi Hadiya Jogidaha Katunje Babala Saune Sidhipur Triyuga Municipality Beltar Sundarpur Phasing out VDCs Ongoing projects New projects